Thursday, August 11, 2005

Baseball stuff

I was watching the Dodgers-Phillies game last night and I heard that Jose Cruz Jr. has 187 career home runs. That got me thinking that he has a chance at reaching 300 career home runs. I'm pretty sure that Cruz would be the worst player in baseball history to reach 300 home runs. I looked up the list and here are the candidates.

Cleary, all of those players are better than Jose Cruz Jr. Jeromy Burnitz and Reggie Sanders will reach 300 soon. I think Reggie Sanders would immediately earn the title of "worst player ever to reach 300 home runs." Although, Sanders has been far from a bad player.

On a different note, I think Alan Trammell will be fired soon. I don't have any inside information but the Tigers are falling fast. There was so much excitement about the direction of this team early in the season. After it seemed as though the Tigers weren't going to contend, it seemed that people were happy that they would at least have a shot at finishing above .500. Now, there's really no hope of anything. The whole team is in a tail spin and this is precisely when the head coach gets the axe. I would expect Tram to be let go if, and when, the Tigers get below 10 games under .500. I suppose it's possible that Dombrowski has made up his mind that Trammell will be back next season for sure but I have a hard time believing that Dombrowski would take that stance. Dombrowski can't let the pessimism surround this team get any worse. Don't be surprised if Tram is shown the door very soon.

Tram is a Tiger modern legend and I respect him as a player and as a coach. But he just doesn't have this team at all. They have slipped into an abyss of almost ready and unwilling to go any further. Obviously they need another frontline starter from outside the organization, and they need power at 3B and in LF. They also need someone, anyone to come up with a big hit or a big pitch. Whoever thinks Inge is the future is a fool. He has no power and his fielding is suspect and there is no reason to get him more seasoned at a place they need power.

Eric Shelton, Fernando Rodney, getting Polanco, and Bonderman have been the bright spots. Logan, Monroe, the bullpen lately, and any type of clutch hitting have been disappointing. Granderson should be the guy in CF next year and they better find someone who can get a hit with two outs and two on. They have blown so many games by just not getting runners home with no outs, one out, well...outs. This includes the big guys.

I'm still not sold on Shelton but he has been pretty good. But if they can get a big hitting firstbaseban I think they could DH Shelton because his fielding skills are marginal.

I am extremely disappointed in this team. Between them and the Seahawks performance last year I have a new ulcer and drink allot more. My goal was for a .500 season and they aren't going to get there. Last year it was acceptable. The Blue Jays, Indians, and Rangers are going to finish with better records and that is hard to swallow.

I'm going through a list of the guys with 300 homeruns, yet weren't very good. Who's the worst of the worst of the best? That's tough. Cey went to 6 all-star games, and was a World Series MVP, so that might take him out of the running for this dubious honor.

Out of the seven you mentioned Sievers had the second best career average (with two years over 300), obp, slg%, and ops. He also drove in 100 rbis 4 times. Add in the best bb-k ratio, and he's eliminated.

Determining who the worst of the remaining 5 is, isn't easy. I guess it goes down to what do you value the most. Buhner had the best obp, slg, and ops, but got hurt, struck out a lot, never ran, and was the only of the remaining 5 to not reach 1000 runs or rbis, and had the least hits. Those numbers likely are attributed to his health, since his percentage numbers indicate his lack of at bats prevented him from leading the pack rather than being on the back end.

Ron Gant and Greg Vaughn are pretty similar. They have remarkably close obp, ops and slg numbers. Both struck out a lot too. Gant did have 5 years of 20+ sbs, though Vaughn had 121 of his own for his career. But Vaughn offsets the sb's by having slightly better power numbers in less at bats.

Gaetti and Sierra are on this list for purely longevity reasons. Gaettis obp, avg, ops, slg are below average. He couldn't run, and couldn't draw a walk. If it werent for Gary's 4 gold glove awards I'd easily give the award to him. Sierra started off on fire. But when most people peak at 27, he peaked by 27, when his career took a nose dive.

About Reggie Sanders. His average isn't great but at the top of this list we've got. His obp, slg, ops are all near the top, and by the time he finishes his career he'll also have over 300 sbs to go with his 300 hrs.

When it comes down to naming the worst, I have to say if I had one guy out of the group I didn't want to bat, it would be Gaetti, but the reason he played 20 years and was able to reach 300 home runs was his ability to play defense. With that into account, the player Sierra has become is someone I'd least like to have. Heck the Tigers did have him!! He hit 1 hr for the Tigers in 96. Then again, he always played well for the Rangers. He must like the water down there.

A note about Trammell. On MLive today, they reported that it appears Illitch is in favor of giving Trammell next year, as a last chance, even though Dombrowski might be in favor of letting him go.

You hit it on the head Bill. Ever since I put that "Bonderman Watch" up there, the Tigers have been abysmal. I even took it down at one point and then they started winning again. At this point, we can put on our Lions hats and hope for the highest draft pick possible.